They say that our olfactory sense is the last to go, that up 'til the end when our memories of names and faces and places are gone, we can remember certain smells. I can instantly remember the smell of burning leaves, the richness of a plowed field after a summer rain, and potatoes frying in a skillet. I can remember the smell of mimeograph machine ink from fifty years ago, and that of Vick's salve that Mama rubbed on our throats. I remember waking up to the smell of coffee and bacon cooking every morning of my childhood. Nothing was as good as the honeysuckle.
We knew it was spring then, when we played outside by the porch light and our bare feet got slick with dew, and it was like being in a perfume factory with the wild honeysuckle blooming along fence rows and road sides. Later, when we were dating, we rode those county roads with the windows down, listening to music with the smell of honeysuckle just enhancing the young love being born.
Farmers rued the day that they had planted honeysuckle to stop erosion, but we loved it.
In the language of flowers, honeysuckle meant sweetness of disposition because of the sweet scent of the flowers. It also implied a bond or meant "captive of love," suggested by the plant's twining growth habit that embraces trees and other plants. The common name woodbine comes from Middle English and refers to the ability of the plant to tie or bind as it grows and climbs. Bobby J. Ward, A Contemplation Upon Flowers: Garden Plants in Myth and Literature
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